Kent fuming in points row

Saturday 27 January 2007 00:07 BST

Kent have slammed the four counties who blocked the England and Wales Cricket Board's proposal to award them extra points as compensation for the abandonment of their recent LV County Championship clash with Worcestershire.

Chairman Carl Openshaw has accused Lancashire, Yorkshire, Warwickshire and Durham of acting with "self interest" in denying them from being awarded nine points instead of the normal four from the four-day wash-out.

The ECB had offered this as a possible solution after deciding it was not feasible to proceed with their initial plan to allow the game to be replayed next week as New Road was still flooded. But it needed the backing of all the Division One clubs for the extra points to be awarded.

Now fuming Kent, locked in a relegation battle with Worcestershire and Surrey, are deciding whether to pursue legal action.

Openshaw said: "Everyone connected with Kent cricket is extremely disappointed at the way this situation has unfolded and by the eventual outcome.

"We find it extraordinary that four counties should have decided to overturn the ECB's proposal to resolve this matter for what can only be regarded as reasons of self-interest.

"From the outset, it was recognised that Kent was the totally innocent party and had, as the ECB put it, 'been disadvantaged by Worcestershire's decision not to relocate the match to another venue'.

"The ECB had, therefore, sought to find an equitable solution, firstly by deciding that the match should be rescheduled (to which a number of counties objected) and subsequently by proposing that Kent should be awarded five additional points in compensation.

"Lancashire, Yorkshire, Warwickshire and Durham were not prepared to support this proposal."

Openshaw added: "The members and supporters of Kent have been badly let down. Kent County Cricket Club continues to consider its position in this matter and is reserving all its legal rights."